Characteristics of Nursing Students

Characteristics of successful nurses David Maxwell, Jake Youmans, Sergei Pugachov, Kurt Wahnschaff Abstract Nursing is a rapidly growing and expanding profession. As a result, nursing schools must have well-defined criteria to find the best candidates for their program. Nursing schools can only admit a certain number of students per semester. However, if students do not make it through the program, it does not only cost the school money but it leaves a lost opportunity for another student. According to the AACN, “RN enrollment has increased every year for the past 13 years, and the biggest limiting factor is instructors and clinical sites”. However, according to a study, “Although enrollments continue to grow the attrition rate nationwide hovers around 50%”. (Beauvais, A. M., Stewart, J. G., Denisco, S., & Beauvais, J. E. pp. 918). This is a significant number of students dropping out of their programs, and because of this many financial and social burdens occur. The purpose of this study will be to investigate correlations between non -academic characteristics and academic success in nursing school. We have chosen to follow Heider’s Attribution theory of explaining behaviors in an effort to explain possible attributes that lead to a student’s academic success in nursing school. It is important to better decipher students who would be the best fit to succeed in the program, as well as the field. Data will be collected from students in Junior II, Senior I, and Senior II classes at Georgia Southern University School of Nursing, who have already completed at least one semester of nursing school. The research question of interest is “What are characteristics of successful nursing students?” Data will be collected from junior and senior nursing students using a 20-item self-reported questionnaire that will include questions regarding study habits, personality, motivational factors, interpersonal skills, nursing perceptions, critical thinking, social life, and their nursing school GPA. Data will then be analyzed using SPSS version 21 software. Descriptive statistics from our data will be analyzed with demographic and other participant characteristics. The data comparisons will be made using appropriate statistical analysis methods such as: cross tab tables, correlation coefficient, and chi-square. Alpha will be set at 0.05 for all analyses. Our research is currently ongoing; results will be available for the presentation by the scheduled date of the conference. References: AACN Finds Slow Enrollment Growth at Schools of Nursing (American Association of Colleges of Nursing) http://www.aacn.nche.edu/news/articles/2014/slow-enrollment Beauvais, A. M., Stewart, J. G., Denisco, S., & Beauvais, J. E. (2013). Factors related to academic success among nursing students: A descriptive correlational research study.Nurse Education Today, 34, 918-923